‘The Ring 3’ Attracts Oscar-Winning Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman

Superhero movies might be dominating the top of the box office charts, but the horror genre has also been enjoying a quiet but steady level of success in recent years. Horror films like Sinister, The Conjuring and Insidious have all achieved ticket sales that multiply their meager budgets many times over, so it should come as no surprise that Paramount Pictures (whose properties include the Paranormal Activity franchise) is making moves to revive another horror series.

The Ring 3 was recently reported to be back in development at Paramount, with F. Javier Gutiérrez (Before the Fall) attached to direct. Several years ago rumors about the plot of The Ring 3 indicated that it would ditch Rachel and Aidan – the characters from the previous two films – and instead follow a group of teenagers who find themselves being terrorized by malevolent ghost Samara Morgan. It’s highly possible, however, that these plans have been dropped in the interim years.

According to a Deadline report, Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (I, Robot) is now in talks to write the next draft of The Ring 3. David Loucka (House at the End of the Street) first wrote the script and Jacob Estes (Mean Creek) worked on the most recent draft, but it seems that Paramount is eager to have Goldsman (who also produced several Paranormal Activity movies) put his pen to paper for the next draft of the screenplay.

Goldsman won an Academy Award in 2002 following the release of A Beautiful Mind, a biographical drama about Nobel prize winner John Nash, for which Goldsman wrote the screenplay. He’s also had his fair share of critical duds, however, including last year’s supernatural fable Winter’s Tale and the somewhat infamous comic book movie Batman and Robin.

Hollywood has long had a penchant for remaking foreign horror movies, with Asian horror movies being a particular favorite, but Gore Verbinski’s 2002 remake of The Ring stands out as one of the better examples of American remakes. Similarly The Ring Two, which was directed by original Ring filmmaker Hideo Nakata, is a satisfyingly spooky watch.

The Ring movies have a fairly simple premise – haunted video tape, ghost girl with long hair, countdown to a predicted death date – that should be easy enough to get extra mileage out of while staying within the low budget restrictions of many of the most popular horror movies around right now. Is Goldsman the right screenwriter for the job, though? Tell us what you think of this potential creative choice in the comments.